Less than 3% of artists named in GCSE art exams are Black or south Asian, study finds

With lesson content largely set by teachers and subject leaders, students often only have access to a ‘narrow perspective on the artistic world’, the report says. Photograph: parkerphotography/Alamy

Less than 3% of artists named in GCSE art exam papers are from Black or south Asian backgrounds, research has found.

Analysis of GCSE assessment materials from four big exam boards in England – AQA, Eduqas, OCR and Edexcel – showed only 8.4% of artists referenced across the 27 art exam papers were minority ethnic.